Do you mix and match your brands of lenses?

Mix it up. On my Leicas I use older Leitz lenses, newer CV lenses and a few Russian/Ukranian lenses with LTM to M adapters. I'm also considering a Zeiss 50/2 ZM in the future.

My Kievs have Zeiss Sonnars.
 
I guess that I'm lucky in that most of my Leica M bodies and Leitz lenses were picked up cheaply during "the great SLR rvolution" in the 1960's and everybody was dumping their "obsolete" rangefinder stuff for whatever they could get for it. Kind of like folks dumping their film SLR's now as they run helter skelter after the digital "answer to all of their problems".

One thing that encouraged me to stay mostly with Leitz glass over the years was the uniform 39mm filter thread for a lot of common focal lengths. Back in the day when "color" meant Kodachrome or Ektachrome you needed plenty of filters to balance the film for the light. There was no filtering in the darkroom like with color neg films or finessing the color balance with Photoshop from your digital file. What passed through your filter and lens was what you got, exactly what you got. Get it right the first time or the editor would use somebody else next time around.

If you think Leica lenses are expensive then price another set of color balancing (80 and 85)and color correcting (81 and 82) filters in various strengths just for one odd-ball lens!

Still though, I've always had one or more lenses from Canon and Nikon in my kit. In recent years I've fallen in love with the VC 15mm Heliar, and I have an off brand 400/6.3 Tele Astranar adapted to my Visoflex II. It sports a Canon lens cap because it fits on the hood.
 
Mix and Match Lenses. Yes...

I built a 50mm F1.5 lens out of the front half of a Canon and back half of a J-3. It is RF coupled. And an RF coupled Tessar out of an I-61 mount and Tessar 50/2.8 from an SLR. And an LTM RF coupled lens out of a Zeiss 5cm F2 Sonnar and a J-8 mount. A LTM RF coupled Luxon 50/2 and a J-3 LTM mount...
 
All the lenses that can be mounted on a Leica M bayonet are, relatively speaking, very good. Regardless of brand. No Nikon or Canon camera can be so easily equipped with such a range of high performance lenses (with exception of long tele lenses, of cause). This is indeed the uniqueness of the Leica M system. Regardless if your camera is a Leica M8 or a Zeiss Ikon.

Of cause you can mix brands. Having a Leica WATE did not prevent me from buying a Voigtländer 15 mm 4,5 Super Wide Heliar. The optical difference is really not that much - the price is, but the camera looks totally different with these two lenses. The WATE on the M8 makes it look 'suspiciously professional'. While it looks like a amateur camera that old ladies use with the 15 mm mounted on. An obvious advantage in many instances.

And so on.

A new brand adds new features and new ways of drawing the scene. Sure, you are going to mix lense brands.
 
Mix and match. As I thin down, Nikon and CV seem to be the group. On my S3-2000 it's CV for wides (25/35) and Nikkor for the rest (50/105). On my M4-P kit is pure CV (15/40).

I still have tons of 52mm filters, out side of a few (ND400, Soft1) not sure why.

B2 (;->
 
I mix and match as lenses become available at good prices. It is part of the enjoyment to try out lenses made by different brands. There is nothing holy about Zeiss or Leica or Nikon or Canon or ........
 
Voigtlander Prominent Nokton to S-Mount, then S-Mount to M-Mount.

Resistance is Futile. We will Adapt.
 
thomasw_ said:
...the signature and ergonomics of the lens are paramount. If I like it, then I will save for it. But the deal for me is that the lens must be well used, not a bag-sitter. This is partly why I keep my RF kit small.
Click to expand...

Exactly! Well said Thomas. I have kept the lenses that best fit these criteria, and sold many that I liked but for one reason or another became bag sitters.

I've had two 135 Tele-Elmars, first I tired of that length, then later found a need for it, but after that second bit of shooting it sat, so went.

One of the draws of M mount is the huge variety of signatures available.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Voigtlander Prominent Nokton to S-Mount, then S-Mount to M-Mount.

Resistance is Futile. We will Adapt.
Click to expand...

Brian,

I need an adapter for the Prominent Nokton to M/LTM mount. Is the Prominent-Contax adapter an easier way around?
 
I've seen a Prominent to Contax adapter- sold by Arsenall...

The two-stage adapter is less expensive, and lets me use it on the Nikon RF's.

I can't help fiddling with these lenses. How else can I justify buying three 50/2 Zeiss Sonnars at one time? I did mark the ones shimmed for the Nikon with an "N". It would not be hard to adjust a 5cm F1.4 Nikkor for a Contax. Increase the EFL a bit. Move the rear element out a little. About 0.5mm or so should do the trick. Then shim it in the mount.

I also write a lot of self-modifying code in FORTRAN. At least One RFF'r will understand that.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Mix and Match Lenses. Yes...

I built a 50mm F1.5 lens out of the front half of a Canon and back half of a J-3. It is RF coupled. And an RF coupled Tessar out of an I-61 mount and Tessar 50/2.8 from an SLR. And an LTM RF coupled lens out of a Zeiss 5cm F2 Sonnar and a J-8 mount. A LTM RF coupled Luxon 50/2 and a J-3 LTM mount...
Click to expand...

Brian, you take the mixing and matching to a whole new level!:D
 
One of the reasons I was tempted to get the Zeiss Planar 50/2 is that it is manufactured by the same company that makes my camera (Cosina). I thought they would "match" in that sense. In the end, matching brands doesn't matter much to me, so I went for the M-Hexanon 50/2 because I found it cheaper. So far, that's my only RF lens. I'm eyeing the fast Canon 50s though, but I think it will be a while before I can afford one.
 
Mix and match! Mostly I'm using Konica and Leica but have a CV Ultron that sees use as well. I haven't been avoiding Zeiss - I just don't have any ... but that may change.

...Mike
 
I've always thought that it would be cool to have a set of Angenieux lenses in Leivca mount. I did get to shoot a few pix one time with the 90/1.8. Another oddball LTM lens that was briefly on the market was the 200mm f/4.5 Komura, who also made a 2X converter in Leica thread/M mount. It came with a screw mount in the rear, bayonet in the front, and was supplied with an M adapter. Put it on the rear and you had an M to M tele-extender. Stick iyt in front and you head thread to thread. Clever!
 
Thanks for the interesting answers so far, certainly the mix and match option is the most popular with members. Before its mentioned, no elitism is implied in the question, it was mainly to see if people chose particular brands because of similar character. Its been said by one review that the ZM lenses have a continuity of flare control and colour characteristics. One forum member I know liked the Voigtlander optics but not so much the screw mount versions available at the time he went back to rangefinders he chose Nikon RF because he liked the build quality of the SC lenses more.

I know that everyone probably had one different lens in their kit for that odd focal length that they may not use that much so we could refine the question to be the main few lenses in your kit that you use most?
 
I think of Tuco in "The good the bad & the ugly" he makes one revolver out of 3 (even different models). Used a Nikon FG witha Helios
and now I use Canon, CV 35/2.5, Industar 22 and a J-9 with Bessa/Canon/Zorki
 
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